Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Yesterday, we spent a a lot of time of the show talking about this draconian immigration law passed Arizona. There was a lot of great debate on the issue and many of you expressed some ideas regarding what needs to be done in response. According to a report from the New York Times, "La Opinión, the nation’s largest Spanish-language newspaper, urged a boycott in an editorial Monday, as did the Rev. Al Sharpton, and calls for such action spread to social media sites. The San Francisco city attorney and members of the Board of Supervisors said they would propose that the city not do business with the state." Is an economic boycott the answer?

Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and on of the panelists on The Path Forward last week, spoke with Ben Smith of Politico yesterday regarding the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. He tells Smith, "The President's political and moral dilemma is how to reconcile the process he worked out with Gates and Mullen...and the commitment he made in the State of the Union message to work with Congress and the Pentagon to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell this year." With the protests last week and the urgency to start working on repeal before the midterms, do you think the president can keep his promise and commit to repealing DADT this year?

In an effort to keep attention on repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, SLDN is launching a new media campaign, "Stories From The Frontline: Letter's To President Barack Obama," to underscore the urgent need for presidential leadership and congressional action. Everyday, SLDN will post an open letter to the president by someone affected by DADT. Read the letters and get the word out!

Guest / 2:30pm EST - Kevin Naff, editor of The Washington Blade, joins us this afternoon to talk about the return of The Washington Blade after five months.

Guest / 3:30pm EST - Last week, the White House released a memorandum, allowing hospital patients to have someone by their bedside, a step forward in the right direction for the LGBT community. Joining us today, Janice Langbehn, who was denied visiting rights to her partner, Lisa Pond, in 2007 by a Florida hospital to talk about the memorandum and about her call from President Obama regarding its announcement.

Guest / 4:30pm EST - Author Bill McKibben joins us this afternoon to speak about his latest book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet, in which he writes about that while we still live on Earth, we've managed to fundamental change the planet we thought we knew.

Last month, we spent time discussing the California law classifying gays as sexual deviants and requires the state to conduct research on the causes of homosexuality. We also spent time talking about how CNN anchor Kyra Phillips discussed the law, calling on "ex-gay" Richard Cohen to give reasons why the law should stand. Yesterday, the State Assembly approved a bill, 62-0, to remove references to homosexuality in the provision that calls for research. It moves to the Senate now, will it have the same success it had in the Assembly? We'll discuss this afternoon.

Are violent video games not obscene? Lower courts have drawn the line at violence, but the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case to determine if violent video games should be sold to children? Is the Supreme Court crossing the line or is this a valid case for the First Amendment rights?

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